ted4leaders

Matthew 4:8-11 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

What was the purpose of Jesus? Did the devil legally own the kingdoms of the world?  Who had the birthright? The devil had the birthright. Jesus came to take it back. Jesus came to take back all of the kingdoms of the earth. He knew that the devil had the deed, and He came to take it back.  However, Jesus didn’t come to take it through a grasping for power. He came to take it thought the power of legitimate authority. The devil came pretending that he was the voice of God. Destiny for Jesus at the time was to conquer the devil.  We are more than conquerors.  Jesus gave us the deed and the devil wants to take it back again. Don’t let him do it!

Jesus was secure in His purpose because He knew that the glory of the natural seed had to be fulfilled first.  Was it destiny for the kingdoms of the world to be given to Jesus? It was destiny, but it wasn’t time yet.  Authority is not who you are called to be, or what you are called to do. Authority is who you are today and destiny is who you will be tomorrow. If we are not faithful in who we are we can thwart God’s plans for who we are destined to become. The devil will always try to get you to grab tomorrow’s piece today.  The end does not justify the means to the end. If you compromise, you will destroy the end.  Many are called, but few are chosen.  The devil came as the voice of God. Jesus knew that authority was not about what He could get or do in life. It was about bringing life to others. Jesus had to find His family before He could take the deed of the kingdoms of men from the hand of the devil. He was looking for His brothers, sisters, and mothers. He was a sole Son looking for the family of God. He came to find those who would be the will of the Father.  He came to reconcile the world to the Father.

We have a birthright as a son of man and as a son of God. We must be both in order to enter the Kingdom of God. We cannot neglect either. We are not just spirit and we are not just natural. We are spiritual.

Luke was a physician and a son of God. Matthew was a tax collector and a son of God. What are you? As a young man I had to learn the chastisement of my heavenly Father in the natural world of life. When I was in the military I thought that being spiritual was seeking only the things of the Spirit. I had enlisted in the military on a delayed enlistment plan, but had met the Lord in the process of waiting for my entrance into basic training. My conversion was quite radical and my whole focus was one of seeking God, telling others about Him, and serving Him in any way that I could. The military had placed me in an electronics career field, although I sought to be reassigned to become a chaplain’s assistant. I didn’t apply myself very well to my electronics training and sought to pass each test with prayer and seeking God. I would have been much better off applying myself to my electronic studies and simply prayed as I studied. Looking back I can see all kinds of errors in my application in life because of a religious mindset.

Many believers tend to think of church activities as being spiritual, while seeing their daily jobs as something less. We must all understand that everything we do in life has a spiritual reality to it. We must be both natural and of the Spirit. This is what makes us ‘spiritual’ and there is a birthright for both of these aspects in life. There is a training involved for both of these birthrights. Training could include typing, schoolwork, learning technical skills, study, prayer, learning the word, standing in faith, living with mercy, and exhibiting grace. If using a computer would sharpen your job skills, you had better take a computer course. Read a book!  If you are a public speaker then you need to learn some communication skills. If you work with people you need to walk out a process whereby you experience fewer complaints to no complaints from those you work with. Our training process includes learning to pray in the spirit. When we have children we have to learn how to be a parent. Life includes the elements of learning to be a father, a mother, or a friend. If you hold a practical job of painting houses, you need to learn to paint without any drips. We must seek to be the best employees or the best employers we can be. We must learn to pay your bills on time, or to make wise decisions in crisis situations. Life involves learning to be both a Martha and a Mary. We must learn to do the practical things of life and to apply ourselves fully to knowing the presence of God in all things.

Flesh is not bad; it’s the works of the flesh that are bad. Being in the flesh keeps you in your chair and allows you to drive your car. It makes you human. God wants the sons of men to walk with a divine authority. He wants us to be anointed mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, servants, and ambassadors of Christ.

There is a double portion. We are of the firstborn in Christ.  In Christ we’ve become the original mankind. We are both spirit and natural. We are the son of man and the son of God. The Spirit of God is in us and the Spirit of God is upon us. Our goal is not to get to heaven, but to get heaven to earth. The fullness of LIFE on earth! Eternity is now and forever!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Authority is a process. Within that process there is a birthright, training, and a testimony of becoming the substance of a specific measure of authority. Authority doesn’t come merely from birthright. There must be a receiving of that birthright and then a training process to become what that birthright proclaims one to be. Authority requires an appointment from God and that appointment comes in the timing of God. There is an age of authority. It is not a set age in the natural, but it is a moment of appointment for authority. Authority requires a time of appointment. There is an anointing in authority, but that anointing is only proven to be legitimate when there is a God-ordained appointment for that anointing to function. I believe that authority is a measure of inheritance from God. That inheritance is given to bring life to the world. When Jesus was thirty years old He received the first measure of His authority for His heavenly inheritance as Lord and Christ.

Matthew 3:17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus proved that His inheritance was not just natural, but also Spirit. After He received His appointment of authority the Spirit led Him into the wilderness. It was there that He manifested the full authority to defeat the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride life for mankind. He defeated the power of the devil by walking in the authority of the Spirit. He opened the door of the Kingdom of God for the spirits, the souls, and the bodies of all humanity. Jesus could only defeat the devil because of birthright and years of training. He re-established the truth that man lives, moves, and has their being in God. He was a living testimony of a man who loved God with all His heart (spirit), soul, and life (body). He was a walking demonstration of authority that comes by faith. As a man, Jesus lived by faith, walked by faith, and His full being in God by faith. He could walk in the kingdom business of His heavenly Father, because He had become a testimony of a manifested Son. Let’s look at His first temptation.

Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

I don’t believe that Jesus was quoting Scripture to the devil. He wasn’t quoting Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy was quoting Him. Jesus said that the Scriptures were a testimony of Him (Jn. 5:39). The Old Covenant was a shadow of that which was to come (Heb. 10:1); it was not a testimony to be copied to bring to pass that, which was to come. Jesus was a living testimony that the word was written in His heart and in His mind. The devil thought He was quoting a book, but Jesus was simply confessing the testimony that was within Him that gave Him discernment as to the voice of God. He knew that the voice promising bread was not the voice of His heavenly Father. The devil probably didn’t announce who he was. He is a deceiver and his voice was no doubt a deceiving voice of temptation to Jesus. Jesus discerned that the Spirit of the words spoken were not the substance of His Father’s voice. Jesus was walking in His God-given authority as the Son of Man.

Jesus had come through the process of training to become that He was in the authority of life. He had the sound of God in His character, nature, way, power, and authority. The sound of God had come into Jesus’ name through a process of training. It wasn’t just an anointing given to Him at the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of John.

What was the process that brought to Jesus this place of authority? Was Jesus ever chastised?  We tend to think of chastisement as a punishment for being wrong. We do this because we filter things through a paradigm of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Chastisement is not a punishment; it is a part of our training process in life.  Jesus leaned things like patience, endurance, long suffering, mercy, and grace. All of those things are testimonies made manifest through chastising events.  The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. In the flesh He was chastised because of the sin of man. In the Spirit He was chastised by the Father of Spirits that He would have life. Chastisement is an expression of love. It is in the disciplines of life that we manifest for who we really are. It is pressure that reveals a diamond and irritation that reveals a pearl.

Hebrews 12:3-14 for consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord…

Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Do you suppose He ever hit His hand with a hammer in the carpenter shop? Do you think He may have been misunderstood and wrongly disciplined by His natural father Joseph? He knew how to be led by the voice of His heavenly Father even in everyday life. He knew that it was the instruction of the Spirit that strengthens hands and the word of God that strengthens knees (Job. 4:3,4). He knew how to walk in a practical world in a spiritual reality. This is how He could defeat the devil in life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

Authority is not merely based upon the tasks we do in life. It is based upon who we are. Who we are determines the authority for the tasks we do in life. Being faithful in the tasks we do have more to do with the substance of our authority as sons and daughters of God, then it does with the tasks themselves. It is part of the process of training and of receiving the substance of God’s name.

Authority begins with a birthright and then progresses through a process of training to the times of appointment in our lives. It is not training that qualifies us for authority. It is the process of authority that demands the necessary ingredients of training. Training can give us a skill, but skill alone doesn’t qualify us for authority. It is the sound of God in our name that qualifies us for an appointment that warrants a legitimate anointing for authority. Something of the substance of God has to be a part of who we are in order for us to exhibit the authority of God. This is all a process, and as I have stated, within the process of authority there are years of training. We must be faithful to who we are in every step of the journey. Some things that seem to be practical are really the spiritual ingredients to the authority of our lives.

Many years ago I worked as an operations technician for an oil company. During that time God was calling me into ministry, yet I was also excelling in my secular job. I was advancing in my secular training for the company and being promoted in the workplace faster than my peers. I had a lot of favor in the company. God had also broken my heart to pursue Him and His call upon my life. The favor of God was on me for things of the Spirit. I was seeing many supernatural experiences as well as daily encounters with God and spiritual revelations. I was in the midst of training that was both natural and of the Spirit. I was writing many songs and ministering in various places on my time away from work.

Part of my daily job was to work the computer with lots of time just watching the computer screens. During one night shift I decided to print some of my latest spiritual songs on the printer. When I hit the print button, nothing printed. I tried printing several times, but nothing happened. Following that work shift I was off for a couple of days. When I returned to work I logged into my work computer and saw an email entitled, “Separation of Church, State, and ARCO”. The letter read something like this: “Dear Mr. Hanson; I am sure the refinery wide evangelism was not your goal, but you’re your recent compositions were received by all of the managers. Please refrain from such activity in the future…” My work foreman called me in for a conversation as well. His advice to me was to not use the company computer for personal business in the future. I had made a mistake. I was on company time doing ‘spiritual’ things. It was a big blow to my favor at work. I was about to discover that the authority of my life for my spiritual destiny was directly connected to my diligence in the practical things of my present work responsibilities. Wherever we are that is where we need to be. Tomorrow’s authority is not today’s, but how we live in the present moment is an essential ingredient to our authority tomorrow.

I asked God for His forgiveness in my error and I began to pray that He would give me my favor back in the workplace. I was walking through an area of my outdoor technician responsibly and the Holy Spirit spoke to me about a practical innovation that would save the company a lot of money. He told me what to do, how to design it, and how it would work. I spent several days drawing up the plans and presenting my idea to the management of the company. To make a long story short, the idea proved to be a good one and they implemented my suggestion. It saved the company money and I got my favor back. I got to make a short speech to the managers as to my suggestion and I even received a small financial bonus. I took my bonus money and bought a word processor so I could print my songs at home and not at work. It was a good lesson for me in being faithful to every task of life in the process of authority. I had to work hard in the natural to be qualified in my spiritual destiny. My favor didn’t just magically return to me, I had to apply myself fully to my present job. Where you are is where you have to be. You must be faithful to every step of responsibility in your life in the process of authority.

Jesus established His birthright but was immediately submissive to additional natural training and further spiritual training. Being misunderstood is part of the training process. Jesus, with a right heart, probably built a chair or two that was misunderstood. Joseph might have said: ‘Jesus, run that chair down to Eleazor’s house. He’s been waiting for it.’  Upon delivering the chair, Eleazor might have said; ‘I can’t believe this. This is a lousy chair.’  How would Jesus react? They said it was a lousy chair.  What do you do when you are mistreated and accused of wrong doing over a chair?

Jesus learned and received training from His natural father and His spiritual Father. He was likely wrongly disciplined and misunderstood. He learned obedience to His heavenly Father in the practical things of life.

Hebrews 5:8 …though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

At the age of 12 Jesus laid hold of His birthright. At the age of 30 He laid hold of His inheritance.  Age 30 is an age where the Jewish man could hold a place of eldership. They could enter into a living inheritance of the family business. At age 30 Jesus didn’t ask his natural father, Joseph, for a piece of the carpenter business. He asked His heavenly Father for a piece of the family business of the nations. The baptism of John revealed that Jesus was ready to receive the appointment for the anointing of the family business. His heavenly father announced His favor upon His Son and Jesus commenced to defeat the devil’s stronghold upon God’s people and Jesus began to heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead, multiply bread, and many supernatural miracles of life. He went about destroying the works of the devil by manifesting the works of His Father in heaven.

Unless we are born of the water and the Spirit we cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. We cannot deny the glory of each seed. Our natural seed has a glory that must be seen. It is directly connected to our spiritual destiny. We must be who we are today or we will never be who are meant to be tomorrow. We must embrace the YEARS of training. God did not intend for us to reject the glory of one for the glory of the other, but rather to fulfill the glory of each. Like the plant that is first a seed, then a sprout, then a stalk with the head that develops to supply food for others; we must embrace the process of authority in our lives. Today is not worse than tomorrow, and tomorrow is not better than today.

When Jesus was a baby the old man Simeon prophesied over him. Simeon prophesied over Jesus, not Jesus over Simeon.

Luke 2:25-35 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; 30 for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

The King of kings fit in an old man’s hands. God was willing to place destiny in the fragile hands of an old man. Simeon was fulfilling destiny. Jesus was fulfilling destiny as well. The hands of blessing were the hands of lesser gifting. The hands of blessing were the hands of lesser ability. The hands of lesser gifting and lesser ability were the hands of authority essential for the process of the authority in Jesus’ life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

When Jesus was twelve years old His parents, Joseph and Mary, took Him to the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem. When they had finished the days of celebration, Jesus remained in the temple, while Joseph and Mary began their return trip home.

Luke 2:41-49 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him. “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know hat I must be about My Father’s business?”

At the age of twelve Jesus was found in His Father’s house, the temple, because in Him was a burning desire to bring His Father’s life to His Father’s house (Lk. 2:41-49). He had a longing for the destiny within Him, but He was not at the age of inheritance. God was calling Jesus out of His own country that He might be found among His own people. Who were His relatives? Jesus said later in His ministry that His family were those who do the will of His Father (Mt. 12:50). Something inside the heart of the twelve-year-old Jesus was looking for those who did the will of His Father. He was looking for His true country. What was the perception of those in authority in Jesus’ life? What did this look like to his natural parents, Joseph and Mary?

Luke 2:50-52 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

This is how you confirm you have authority: While your sitting in the synagogue, and destiny is burning in your heart, you know that this it’s your Father’s house, but you willingly choose to submit to the natural authorities of today.  No one seems to be catching it, but the proof that you are catching it is that you remain submissive in the natural. To be in authority, you must continually walk away from that which is going to be, and step fully into that which is. You must remain under authority. Jesus continued to receive training from those who were confused. It took them three days to find Him, though it was a two-day journey. They couldn’t figure out why Jesus would be in the synagogue, though the word of God had been given to both Mary and Joseph at His birth that He would be the savior of His people. The confusion of Joseph and Mary didn’t change who they were in Jesus life. They were the voice and expressions of authority. Jesus wasn’t thirty years old. He was twelve. He had to be faithful in the authority of a twelve year old in order be prepared for the day of the inheritance of a thirty year old. There is an age of inheritance and an age of changing authority. It is not necessarily a hard-set time in your life, but it is according to the timing of God and it includes a process of training.

Jesus began to establish His birthright as a twelve-year-old man. He let tomorrow’s destiny wait for tomorrow. He went back home and faced the reality of today! He wasn’t found among the relatives of the flesh. He was found seeking His relatives of the Spirit, but He let tomorrow’s destiny wait for tomorrow. He went back home and faced the reality of today! Like Abram, His call was to get out of His country. Abram had to get His Father’s sound in his name before he could receive the inheritance.  Abram walked for thirty years before he birthed Isaac. Jesus walked for 30 years before He became Jesus, son of David. Each went through years of TRAINING!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I have been addressing the first stage of authority. Authority begins with a birthright. We were all born with destiny in our very beings. We were born to exercise the authority of God in this life. That authority is the substance of life given to us to influence others with life.

The starting point of authority is birthright. We are who we are. There are certain things that are formed in us from our natural birth. Some of us have had to learn to give, while others have a birthright to give. Some of us have had to learn to serve, while others have a birthright to serve. Some of us have had to lean mercy, while others have a birthright of mercy. We all have motivation gifts given to us by our heavenly Father that determine how we see and do things in life (Rom. 12:6-8). The motivational giftings of our lives are not enough to reveal God’s authority in our lives. The motivations of our lives also require the spiritual realities of the ministry of Christ in our lives. They also require the anointing of the Holy Spirit that compliment and advance the purposes of who we were meant to be. We need the power of the Spirit, the ministry of Christ, and the works of the Father in order to reveal the glory of God’s authority in our lives. These things begin with birthright.

The second step toward authority is training. The training process in our lives is also natural and spirit. You cannot separate the two; they are divinely joined in our lives. The training of Jesus was both earthly and heavenly. Jesus grew in the process of authority.

Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

When Jesus was twelve years old His parents, Joseph and Mary, took Him to the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem. When they had finished the days of celebration, Jesus remained in the temple, while Joseph and Mary began their return trip home.

Luke 2:41-49 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him. “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

Age twelve was the age of manhood. Jesus was found in His Father’s house, the temple, because in Him was a burning desire to bring His Father’s life to His Father’s house. He had a longing for the destiny within Him, but He was not at the age of inheritance. He was merely at the age of manhood. This was not the age of maturity and eldership. It wasn’t the age of inheritance.  Jesus was being identified as a man. He was a spirit-natural man. He was both a man of natural flesh, but also a son of His heavenly Father in the Spirit. His journey as a man had caused Him to become strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.  For certain there was a sense of destiny within Him. I don’t know that He fully knew who He was. For sure He had a strong sense of who He was. Although the passion of His heart was to be who He was destined to be, He had to go through the training process that was both natural and of the Spirit. He had to both a natural man and a man of the Spirit.

Let me share a story from my own destiny into ministry. I came to Christ as a young man and I was fully involved in a strong relationship with God and a strong connection in the church. I felt that I had a role of influencing the earth with the kingdom of God, but my sense was that it was in the area of business. I pursued the construction trade and even became a general contractor with a business of my own. As the years progressed I found that God spoke to me many times in very practical ways. He would tell me how to bid jobs. He would tell me how to run crews. He would even give me instructions in the practical skills of construction. I heard Him quite clearly, but something in me was calling out for more. God told me many practical things, but I never received what I considered to be any revelation in the Spirit. One day I was heading up a crew on a construction site and I expressed my frustration to God. I sat down at lunch and I said to God, “Why don’t you ever give me any revelation?” God then told me to go get my Bible. I sat and opened my Bible and God told me to look up the beatitudes. I turned to the book of Matthew and as I began to read, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” God stopped me and told me to look at that same verse in the book of Luke. As I looked at the account of Luke I found it to say, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” God stopped me again and said, “Which is it?” “Is it poor in spirit or poor?” I didn’t know what to say. Then God instructed me to look of the story of the Centurion in the book of Matthew. As I read the story I saw that the Centurion went to Jesus to request healing for his servant. God told me to read the same story in the book of Luke. As I read the story in Luke, I found that the Centurion never talked to Jesus. Luke wrote that the Centurion sent elders and servants to Jesus on behalf of his sick servant. God then proposed a question to me. He said, “Who’s telling the truth?” I didn’t know what to think. Then God proceeded to say to me. “Matthew was a government man. He was a tax collector. He wasn’t a government man because he was a tax collector. He became a tax collector because he thought like a government man. I made him to be who he was. He would never tell you that the poor are blessed, if in fact the poor in spirit were blessed. He would understand the root of the matter. He would never tell you that he had come to collect taxes, but rather the government was there to get your taxes. Matthew would not bother to mention elders and servants, because they came in the name of the Centurion. In his mind, the Centurion came.” God then talked to me about Luke. He said, “Luke was a people person. He wasn’t a people person because he was a physician; he became a physician because he was a people person. I made him that way. He would not tell you that the poor in spirit are blessed if poor people were also blessed. He would never tell you that the Centurion had come if there were elders and servants involved as well. Luke would mention the people involved because his heart was for people.” Then God said to me, “Now, you’re a builder. Now build!”

One of my greatest strengths in ministry is ‘revelation’, but my anointing for revelation is the same as it was for construction. I am a builder. I am no longer building structures of wood, stone, iron, or some natural material for material dwellings. I am a builder in the body of Christ. My process of authority included learning how to run a construction crew, bid a construction job, be successful in construction areas, be a failure in construction areas, hear God for practical instructions in construction so that I could be a builder in the spiritual realities of the church. The two were not different. They came from whom I am. I am a builder. I think like a builder.

Who you are today is not disconnected from who you will be tomorrow. What you do doesn’t determine who you are, but who you are will determine what you do in life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

I have been addressing the first stage of authority. Authority begins with a birthright. We were all born with destiny in our very beings. We were born to exercise the authority of God in this life. That authority is the substance of life given to us to influence others with life.

The starting point of authority is birthright. We are who we are. There are certain things that are formed in us from our natural birth. Some of us have had to learn to give, while others have a birthright to give. Some of us have had to learn to serve, while others have a birthright to serve. Some of us have had to lean mercy, while others have a birthright of mercy. We all have motivation gifts given to us by our heavenly Father that determine how we see and do things in life (Rom. 12:6-8). The motivational giftings of our lives are not enough to reveal God’s authority in our lives. The motivations of our lives also require the spiritual realities of the ministry of Christ in our lives. They also require the anointing of the Holy Spirit that compliment and advance the purposes of who we were meant to be. We need the power of the Spirit, the ministry of Christ, and the works of the Father in order to reveal the glory of God’s authority in our lives. These things begin with birthright.

The second step toward authority is training. The training process in our lives is also natural and spirit. You cannot separate the two; they are divinely joined in our lives. The training of Jesus was both earthly and heavenly. Jesus grew in the process of authority.

Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

When Jesus was twelve years old His parents, Joseph and Mary, took Him to the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem. When they had finished the days of celebration, Jesus remained in the temple, while Joseph and Mary began their return trip home.

Luke 2:41-49 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him. “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

Age twelve was the age of manhood. Jesus was found in His Father’s house, the temple, because in Him was a burning desire to bring His Father’s life to His Father’s house. He had a longing for the destiny within Him, but He was not at the age of inheritance. He was merely at the age of manhood. This was not the age of maturity and eldership. It wasn’t the age of inheritance.  Jesus was being identified as a man. He was a spirit-natural man. He was both a man of natural flesh, but also a son of His heavenly Father in the Spirit. His journey as a man had caused Him to become strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.  For certain there was a sense of destiny within Him. I don’t know that He fully knew who He was. For sure He had a strong sense of who He was. Although the passion of His heart was to be who He was destined to be, He had to go through the training process that was both natural and of the Spirit. He had to both a natural man and a man of the Spirit.

Let me share a story from my own destiny into ministry. I came to Christ as a young man and I was fully involved in a strong relationship with God and a strong connection in the church. I felt that I had a role of influencing the earth with the kingdom of God, but my sense was that it was in the area of business. I pursued the construction trade and even became a general contractor with a business of my own. As the years progressed I found that God spoke to me many times in very practical ways. He would tell me how to bid jobs. He would tell me how to run crews. He would even give me instructions in the practical skills of construction. I heard Him quite clearly, but something in me was calling out for more. God told me many practical things, but I never received what I considered to be any revelation in the Spirit. One day I was heading up a crew on a construction site and I expressed my frustration to God. I sat down at lunch and I said to God, “Why don’t you ever give me any revelation?” God then told me to go get my Bible. I sat and opened my Bible and God told me to look up the beatitudes. I turned to the book of Matthew and as I began to read, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” God stopped me and told me to look at that same verse in the book of Luke. As I looked at the account of Luke I found it to say, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” God stopped me again and said, “Which is it?” “Is it poor in spirit or poor?” I didn’t know what to say. Then God instructed me to look of the story of the Centurion in the book of Matthew. As I read the story I saw that the Centurion went to Jesus to request healing for his servant. God told me to read the same story in the book of Luke. As I read the story in Luke, I found that the Centurion never talked to Jesus. Luke wrote that the Centurion sent elders and servants to Jesus on behalf of his sick servant. God then proposed a question to me. He said, “Who’s telling the truth?” I didn’t know what to think. Then God proceeded to say to me. “Matthew was a government man. He was a tax collector. He wasn’t a government man because he was a tax collector. He became a tax collector because he thought like a government man. I made him to be who he was. He would never tell you that the poor are blessed, if in fact the poor in spirit were blessed. He would understand the root of the matter. He would never tell you that he had come to collect taxes, but rather the government was there to get your taxes. Matthew would not bother to mention elders and servants, because they came in the name of the Centurion. In his mind, the Centurion came.” God then talked to me about Luke. He said, “Luke was a people person. He wasn’t a people person because he was a physician; he became a physician because he was a people person. I made him that way. He would not tell you that the poor in spirit are blessed if poor people were also blessed. He would never tell you that the Centurion had come if there were elders and servants involved as well. Luke would mention the people involved because his heart was for people.” Then God said to me, “Now, you’re a builder. Now build!”

One of my greatest strengths in ministry is ‘revelation’, but my anointing for revelation is the same as it was for construction. I am a builder. I am no longer building structures of wood, stone, iron, or some natural material for material dwellings. I am a builder in the body of Christ. My process of authority included learning how to run a construction crew, bid a construction job, be successful in construction areas, be a failure in construction areas, hear God for practical instructions in construction so that I could be a builder in the spiritual realities of the church. The two were not different. They came from whom I am. I am a builder. I think like a builder.

Who you are today is not disconnected from who you will be tomorrow. What you do doesn’t determine who you are, but who you are will determine what you do in life.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Jesus became an earthly seed. He paid that price for us to have authority as sons of men. God created the earth, but its rule and dominion were given to the hands of men (Ps. 8).  That rule and dominion is not merely an exercise of the flesh. It is an implementation of the power of heaven to the things that are both visible and invisible in this world. I believe a good definition of subduing is that of destroying any testimony of death with the testimony of heaven’s life. It is revealed through testimonies such as light to darkness, healing to sickness, order to disorder, fullness to emptiness, freedom to bondage, and so forth. I believe dominion is made known by truth, whereas every manifestation of truth crumbles every manifestation of lie. The exercise of subduing and dominion is not merely a natural authority, but is the authority of the Spirit made manifest in the natural. It is the testimony of the kingdom of God. It is part of the inheritance of God and it is not an attribute of flesh and blood, but is in fact natural and spirit. The power of the kingdom of God within us enables us to bring the influence of the kingdom of God to the natural things of our lives. The kingdom within us is one that makes us dependant upon Him in the Spirit, a testimony of Him in the Spirit, and one with Him in our purpose. He is the reality of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles within our hearts. He is the testimony of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit within our hearts (Rom. 14:17). These inward realities will affect everything we do in life. These things within us determine how we think and how we do things in life. The things we do will manifest our dependence upon God, our testimony in Christ, and our face-to-face with God in life.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God even when it comes to the earth. Our authority is as sons of men (male and female). Our identity as men and women is to be both born naturally, and born of the Spirit.  The substance of man originated from the substance of God. God spoke to Himself in the creation of man and from Himself came the substance of man, male and female (Gen. 1:26). He also formed man from the dust of the earth; therefore man is also natural to reveal the testimony of God’s Spirit to the natural world around him (Gen. 2:7). Jesus came to restore the authority of mankind in their natural and spirit realities. These two things together make mankind spiritual (spirit-natural) beings.

Jesus was both born of Mary and born of the house of Joseph (Mt. 1:16). Jesus was born of the flesh and of the Spirit (Mt. 1:22). God became a man seed. God didn’t start in the city of Bethlehem, but He was born as Jesus in Bethlehem. Before He was flesh He was the eternal word; He was God and the expression of God – the Word. The Word didn’t start in Bethlehem, God in the flesh started in Bethlehem. The Word became a man seed in Bethlehem. He did it for us! He became a flesh and blood spirit man, because you and I must be born of the water and the spirit to enter the kingdom of God. His destiny was to become a flesh and bone man of the Spirit (Eph. 5:30), but He had to live a selfless life in the natural, bringing the influence of the kingdom of God to the world He lived in. He didn’t seek the life of the flesh, but rather the life of the Spirit in all things. It was both evident in the way He thought and in His actions in the world.

God became a firstborn for us to enter the kingdom of God on the earth. He was the first man who was fully natural and fully of the Spirit. He was a firstborn eternal man who exercised the life of heaven in the habitation of the earth. He was the first seed of a spiritual race and He was the first harvest of that seed for everyone! God loved people so much He made a way to put His Spirit within us so that we could inherit the kingdom of God. That inheritance is both in this life and in the life to come. That inheritance is ours in the increasing transitions of life. Our spirit had to become one with God’s Spirit in order to be children of God and see His inheritance increase.

God’s plan includes the natural and the spirit. Redeemed mankind has been given the right to be birthed by God’s Spirit and formed by Christ’s presence in their lives. In the natural God formed us in our mother’s womb, but we must also be formed in a womb of the Spirit to inherit the kingdom of heaven in this life and in the life that is yet to come.  In truth, we were created in God before we were formed in our mother’s womb. We had to be born of God to receive what we were created to be in Christ. Being born of water and of the Spirit allows us to enter the kingdom of God. We must embrace all that is ours in the natural and we must embrace the process of increasing glory that comes through Christ’s Spirit in our lives.

God wants each of us to be who we were born to be. This includes all of the attributes that define who we are, both in the natural and in the spirit. We are each an expression of the extravagance of God and that extravagance is seen in the natural and in the spirit realities of our lives. This is what makes us unique and glorious spiritual beings of life.

Inheritance is given to the firstborn. Jesus was the firstborn of a kingdom ruling race of humanity. He was the inheritor of all that is found in the family estate. He was an inheritor of His Father’s glory. Through Jesus we can receive the benefits of the firstborn. Those in Him inherit the kingdom of God. In Christ we have been given the destiny of the firstborn. All of the inheritance of God is ours in Christ. We are all of His inheritance in the body of redeemed humanity.

Jesus followed the rules of the earthly seed in order to establish the authority of the heavenly seed in the earth. Everything He did in the natural was connected to His divine connection in the Spirit. He did only that which He saw His heavenly Father doing. He was joined to God in the Spirit and fully engaged in His natural responsibilities in life. He instructed us to have that same type of relationship with God in life. We are to pray to ‘our Father’, not merely to a Mighty God. We are to expect His kingdom to come and His will to be done ‘on earth’ exactly as it is ‘in heaven’. This is the kind of walk that Jesus walked in life. Do you suppose that Jesus as a baby needed a diaper change? As a boy, did He fall down and scrape His knee? In the carpenter shop of His stepfather Joseph, did He make the first project perfect? As a baby He lived in the authority of a baby. As a boy He lived in the authority of a boy. As a young man He lived in the authority of a young man. As a man of the age of inheritance, He lived as a man of the age of inheritance. He didn’t seek His heavenly Father’s glory until He was thirty and He didn’t embrace the cross until He was thirty-three. He was faithful to His natural responsibilities in every step of His journey as a man and He didn’t see the first thirty years of His life as nothing. He exercised heavenly authority in every stage of His life. He was real to every moment and real to every step of His journey in life. Authority is the result of a process. Jesus walked out His heavenly call in an earthly body.

Jesus started His walk on earth from a birthright that was both heavenly and earthly. We are supposed to believe that heaven is to come on earth. Jesus was born of God and born of man so that all men would know the confession of God as their Father, the testimony of His anointing, and the glory of living with Him in every step of their journey in life. We have a birthright that is both heavenly and earthly. We have been born, and we have been born again. We are born of the water and of the Spirit. In Christ we know the reality of being born natural and born spirit. We must life a selfless life in the natural, bringing the influence of the kingdom of God to the world in which we live. We must seek the life of God’s Spirit in all things, but we must manifest our dependence upon Him, our testimony in Him, and our face-to-face living with Him. These things will be seen though the way we think and the way we do things in life. We will be empowered to live for God the Father and the wellbeing of others. The kingdom of God is within us, but His righteousness, peace, and joy will be made known His Spirit in us. It will be seen in and through our natural lives in this world.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

Flesh and blood does not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50).  We do have flesh and blood though, don’t we?  I am flesh and blood, but I want the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). The kingdom of God is not a natural kingdom, but when it is manifested within us it affects even the natural things of our lives. It doesn’t come by what we see in the natural, but when we embrace the power of Christ’s kingdom within us it brings God’s influence into our everyday worlds. When Jesus was fulfilling the law, the kingdom of God was at hand, but now by the power His grace it is made alive within us.

Luke 17:20, 21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

If the kingdom of God is within, shouldn’t there be some form of inheritance today? There is an inheritance that comes from the kingdom of God that is within us. That kingdom within us has the power to affect the things of our lives in both spiritual and natural ways. The authority of the kingdom of God within us will influence the practical areas of our daily lives. God wants us to bring the influence of heaven into earth. He wants His kingdom to come and His will to be done upon the earth as it is in heaven. This is a daily reality and a continual advancing and maturing process in our lives.

The glory of a king is everything that is in his kingdom. King Jesus owns all of creation: visible and invisible.  Flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom of God, but we have the power of Christ’s Spirit within us that the inheritance of God in our lives might come by the power of His Spirit and even effect the things in the natural areas of our lives. God’s kingdom is the kingdom affecting our flesh, but it is not the kingdom of seeking the life of self. It is the kingdom of His glory. When we live for God and for the wellbeing of others we are living for the kingdom of God. The power to walk that out is hidden within the power of Christ within us. The life of Christ within us empowers us to live for God and the wellbeing of others. This is a spiritual reality, but it is seen in things that appear to be spiritual and in things that appear to be natural in our lives.

If you hate who you are, you will never be able to be who you are destined to be tomorrow. There is a glory of who you are today. We are earthly and of the spirit. We are born of the water (natural) and born of the Spirit. It is these two things together that make us spiritual (spirit-natural) beings. Authority is in the present and not meant to be a mere promise of the future. It is present and progressive in all that we are and do.

The former glory is not the glory of today, nor is the future glory the glory of today. There is a glory of the earthly and to neglect or reject who you are today is a denial of who you are today.  The earthly is today and the heavenly is to come. In the process of our journey there is a continued increase in the mix of these two values in our lives.

Did Jesus establish the heavenly seed in the earthly domain? Can we have dominion in the kingdom of God today? Flesh and blood cannot inherit it, but one must be born of the water and of the Spirit in order to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus was both born of a woman and born of God. We too must be born of a woman and born of God. We must embrace who we are naturally and we must embrace the power of God’s Spirit in our natural lives. We must be ‘spiritual’ (spirit-natural) beings in order to have authority in life.

Psalms 8:4-6 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…

Our dominion in life comes through an earthly seed and a heavenly one. We must be both natural and spirit in order to bring the authority of heaven into the natural world in which we live. Jesus did all of this. He was a firstborn of a full harvest of spiritual humanity in the earth. He was the firstborn of a race of new creations in Christ. He was both natural and Spirit! He was faithful in the carpenter shop of Joseph and in the harvest fields of His heavenly Father.

Jesus was approached by a Jewish teacher name Nicodemus, in regard to the power of His life. Jesus responded by revealing to Nicodemus that the power of His life had to do with who He was, not what He did. He told him that unless he was born again he could not see the kingdom of God, therefore, he could not understand all that Jesus did (Jn. 3:1-17).

To exercise the authority of the kingdom of God we must first be able to see the kingdom. One must be born again to see the kingdom of God (J. 3:3). Once you see it, you can receive the power to lay hold of it. You are given the right to become a child of God that progressively walks in the authority of the kingdom of God. When we walk in the authority of who we are as sons and daughters of God, we manifest His authority in the things of our lives. Things without the righteousness, peace, and joy of God are just things and not the kingdom of God, but things are part of the kingdom of God because God is the creator and things are part of creation. God doesn’t hate things, but without righteousness, peace and joy things are nothing. Being born again allows earthly creatures to see into the heavenly, but unless we are born of the water and of the Spirit we cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

God has reserved the entrance to the kingdom of God to new creations. They must be born of the flesh and born of the Spirit. To have the authority to subdue and have dominion upon the earth one must be a human being. We were created in the likeness and the image of God as men and women in the earth. We must embrace who we are: spirit, soul, and body. We must like who we are: spirit, soul, and body. Being natural is not bad; it is the means by which we manifest the power of God’s spirit to the natural world in which we live. The blood is the life of the flesh (Lev. 17:11), but God’s Spirit is the life of redeemed mankind as they manifest the will of God in the natural world in which they live. We must seek to be flesh and spirit, not mere beings of flesh and blood. We are natural beings who are empowered by God’s Spirit, led by God’s Spirit, and manifest God’s Spirit in all that we are and do. Jesus poured out the life of the flesh so that we could have the fullness of the life of the Spirit in our natural place of standing in this life and in the life to come. We can experience the life of the Spirit in all of our natural circumstances.

Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent and it starts in an earthly house. In Christ, we are connected to God today and forever. A glory is coming into our lives, that far exceeds anything we have ever known, but we also have a glory of God in our lives in every step of our journey. Authority is not based upon who we are destined to be. Authority is based on who we are. Are you glad to be who you are or are you waiting to be someone else?

When we became born again we were no longer men of dust but also men of the heavenly. There is a glory in the vessel of dust and the heavenly. When you hate your earthly seed there is no glory. You are earth and heaven, both are good, both are necessary. To hate the earthly and focus on death with the hope of heaven is missing the glory of the seed.  Are you glad to be who you are or are you waiting to be something else? If you are waiting to be something else you are missing the glory of the seed of who you are today. Being content, confident, and committed to be who you are will end all frustration. You will see the kingdom of God. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit will prevail in your spirit, flood your soul, and inspire your life in all that you are and do.

Jesus established a heavenly dominion in an earthly vessel when He became the heavenly seed in an earthly vessel. He became the Son of Man the Son of God so that we could be sons and daughters of God while manifesting His kingdom and will in the world in which we live!

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings,

A good definition of glory is to be fully alive. The glory of authority is to be fully alive as who you are and for the purpose for which you were born. The result will be life to others because of who you are. The authority of who we are is meant to bring life to the world through the identity of who we were born to be. In a general purpose, we were all born to be children of God. We are sons and daughters of God because of the substance of our new birth in Christ. In the same way, we have a specific reality in the seed of who we are in our individual identity for the purpose of God in the earth. We have a general birthright as a child of God, but we have a specific birthright for the various roles we play in fulfilling our individual purpose in Christ. Authority comes from the seed.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38  But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?”  Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.  And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

Every seed has its own glory. There is a glory of corn, fish, animals, trees, angels, stars, planets, and any created thing. The glory begins in the seed. The glory of who you and I are is found in the seed of who we were born to be. We already are the seed, but it is yet to be revealed what that seed will fully become. We don’t just have the potential to become what we are called to be. Who and what we are called to be is in the very DNA of who we are. These things are not determined by our will, but by discovering the will of God in our lives. It is a matter of discovering who God made us to be.

1 Corinthians 15:39-41 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.  There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

I emphasize birthright and the glory in the seed because authority is not based upon who we want to be, who we think we are, or who we think we should be. It is founded upon who we are destined to be according to the seed of who we are. Authority comes from the seed! The enemy wants to distract us and deceive us to desire to be someone we are not. Someone else’s authority is not ours, nor is our own authority out of timing of the season of our life an authority of our reality today. Tomorrow’s authority is not today’s authority. There is a glory in each stage of our development in authority. There is a glory in the seed, in that it has all of the potential and destiny to become what it is called to be. When a plant begins to grow it has an authority of life as it is revealed as the green shoot. There is an increasing authority, as it becomes the stalk. That authority is a testimony of life, but it still lacks the full fruit of authority that brings life to others. It isn’t until the fruit develops in the stalk that the full fruit of authority is seen for the life of others. There is even an authority of seed to the future generations that follows the authority of food for others. Each stage of development includes a greater authority and a diverse testimony of purpose and destiny.

1 Corinthians 15:42-50  So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.  It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.  The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 

How does the earthly and the heavenly relate to us today? There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. We are inheritors of the kingdom of God NOW, but it is also connected to who we will be in the fullness of our resurrection in Christ. There is a progression to the authority of our lives. Each stage of our development and manifestation is connected. There is both a natural and spiritual reality to who we are and it is found in the progression of the seed of our lives. Destiny is not just a destination; it includes the journey of who we are.

Not all flesh is the same. Flesh is not bad in this sense.  Becoming our own source is walking according to the flesh, but being that we are naturally is necessary in the identity of our authority. There is a glory of each kind of flesh and that glory is in its seed. The flesh of everything is that which is physically manifested. Each flesh is from a different seed and has a glory of its own. We each have the ability to fulfill 100% of the glory that we are intended to be. Not one is better than another. Just as there is a diversity of stars, angels, and earthly creations, mankind is meant to be diverse in authority both in the natural and in the spirit.

Authority is manifested in glory, but it begins in the seed and each seed has an authoritative right of its own. One day we will experience an ultimate transformation in glory, but we must be fully alive in each stage of our authority in life. The authority is only seen when the seed becomes manifested in the flesh. When corn becomes the blade it has the glory of the blade. It has the authority of the blade. It has the destiny of corn, but the authority of the blade.  What you are presently manifesting is what counts. God is changing us from glory to glory.

The destiny of corn is the full corn for food and seed, but there is a glory of life in each stage of its progression.  When the blade becomes a stalk, it has the glory of the stalk. It has the authority of the stalk. It no longer has the glory of the blade. If a stalk could think, it may dream, it may have thoughts, it may have a hope and a vision of having a head with kernels of seed in it, but, its glory is that of a stalk. It is what it is.  Godliness with contentment says I am what I am. Dreams and expectations are necessary, but today is also good! When corn becomes the head, it has the glory of the head. It has the authority of the head. It is what it is and authority is based upon glory.

A pumpkin has the destiny to be a pumpkin. A squash has the destiny to be a squash, but when the two mix, it can become something it wasn’t intended to be. You must be who you are. If you are a pumpkin you need to stay in the pumpkin patch. When you mix field corn and popcorn you end up with a perversion of popcorn. Not all spirits are the same, nor are all natural bodies the same. Everyone is unique. It is important that we each remain true to who we are meant to be.

There is a progression in the seed. Authority has its foundation in the kind of seed that it is and all authority is relevant to today’s responsibility. What you were yesterday is not who you are today, nor is it what you will be tomorrow. God will stretch you and you can’t go back by wishing things were what they were yesterday. This kind of thinking is simply stupid thinking! There must be a continued progression or you are acting out of authority, or acting out of the boundaries of authority. You are going to have to be real! You can’t act out yesterday or tomorrow.

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

To be transformed is to go through a metamorphouses. It is like the transition of a butterfly. It starts out as an egg, progresses to be a caterpillar, transitions to a pupa (cocoon), and then finally transforms into a butterfly. In the seed of the egg is the destiny of a butterfly, but there are several stages in between that have a glory of their own. An egg is an egg, a caterpillar is a caterpillar, a cocoon is a cocoon, and a butterfly is a butterfly.

Authority and destiny are not the same. Life comes out of authority, not destiny! Dreams come out of destiny, but dreams alone are fantasy. The authority of today is not the authority of tomorrow, nor is the authority of yesterday the authority of today. The perfect will of God is for you to be who you are today.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson

Greetings;

True authority is the power of “exousia”. Authority is the real thing! It is what it is! To have authority we must carry the spirit of authority. All authority comes from God and we must become the substance of God’s authority to manifest God’s life-giving authority in the earth. Authority must be received and its source is found in the Spirit of God.

Genesis 25:19-28  This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan  Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.  And the LORD said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.  So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 

Jacob was called to be above his brother Esau from birth. In the natural Esau had the birthright, but according to the Spirit of God Jacob had the destiny. Jacob had to become naturally what he was destined to be in the Spirit. He had to get the natural birthright that matched the birthright of the Spirit given to him by God before he was formed in his mother’s womb. All authority comes from birthright. In the womb God said Jacob had it, but in the natural Esau had it. Jacob had the call of God, but no natural ability to fulfill it. To become what he was destined to be required a heavenly change in his earthly circumstance. To become what we are called to be requires a heavenly change in our earthly circumstances. We have a birthright in God, but many are called and only a few are chosen.

Genesis 25:29-34 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what profit shall this birthright be to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.      

Jacob obtained the birthright by purchasing it from Esau. Why did he want the birthright? Remember, authority always initiates in God.  Because he was called to have the birthright it was a good thing in him that wanted it. He was created to be the firstborn, but he didn’t come out first.  He was created to have the older serve him, but he was the younger. He was created to carry on his father’s inheritance, but his brother had the right to the inheritance. In him was a frustration, because he was created to be the firstborn, but he wasn’t first. He knew that he was called. He just didn’t know how to get the birthright. Was it God’s will for Jacob to cheat for the birthright?  Did Jacob really cheat to get the birthright? Did Jacob seek the birthright for his own glory or did he seek it for the destiny of Israel? Did Jacob take the birthright or did Esau despise it? I believe that Esau despised it. One good thing that Jacob had was that he had within him an understanding of the value of the birthright. God was able to redeem the situation because Jacob’s heart was for life. God was able to change his name to become the inheritor of the promise of God from heaven.

Jacob had to become a son of the seed of promise. The blessing didn’t come from Isaac, but from the God of Isaac. Jacob didn’t have the inheritance; he had to look for it. He recognized an opportunity where the birthright could be received. I don’t believe that Jacob sought the birthright for his own greed. I believe that destiny within him called to his heart to seek it for the sake of the future generations of Israel. Jacob’s actions could be considered questionable, but what Esau did was worse than what Jacob did. He despised the birthright. Esau sold his source of authority for a bowl of stew. His interests were only for himself.  Authority is not given for our own personal gain. Authority is a source of life given for others. Esau didn’t value the authority of the birthright because he lived for himself and not for the sake of others. He willingly sold what belonged to others for the sake of feeding his own flesh. We can sell our authority for anything that is not ours in God if we think that what has been given to us is for us and not for those beyond our lives.  What do we have that is ours that we don’t want? We can lose what we have by despising who we are.

What is yours in the flesh is not yours at all. Esau had the birthright in the flesh, but he had no understanding of the birthright in the spirit. He had no understanding of the purpose of inheritance and authority. Authority is found in God. It is possible to sell your birthright for our own ways. Are we in the place of our birthright? Without birthright we cannot have the blessing of inheritance. Inheritance is a testimony of authority given for the life of others.

Hebrews 12:15-17 …looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

Once Esau sold the birthright to Jacob, the right for the blessing of the inheritance belonged to Jacob. Jacob had the birthright for the blessing so when he put the on the goatskins to emulate the feel of his brother, he put on the clothing of the touch and the smell of the substance of the firstborn. He had the right to wear the clothing that would make him feel like he was the firstborn in the natural. Esau had sold it to him. Once Esau realized what had happened he wanted his father Isaac to give him the blessing, but it was too late. The issue was relationship, not gifting. Esau wanted to repent, but God couldn’t grant it. What he wanted didn’t exist anymore. The blessing of the inheritance had been given to Jacob, because Jacob owned the natural right to the inheritance.

The inheritance didn’t belong to Jacob in the flesh; it belonged to Israel. There had to be a spiritual change for Jacob to be the full substance of the inheritance. Jacob had to eventually return home to face his fear of the natural firstborn son, Esau. On his journey home he had an encounter with God that changed his life forever. The sound of God came into his name as God made him weak in the flesh for the strength of God’s Spirit. God had called Jacob from the very beginning, but in the natural he was not it. Jacob stole the deed from Esau just like Satan stole the deed from Adam. The good news is that God came to kill deceitfulness when He wrestled with Jacob. God killed the flesh and what happened that day was a resurrection. Jacob longed to fulfill his destiny, but authority initiates in God. Jacob couldn’t just have the natural birthright for the inheritance. He had to also have the birthright of the Spirit. He had to be transformed from being a “heal grabber” to being a “prince with God”, a full possessor of the authority of inheritance from God.

Even when it comes to our general inheritance in Christ, our birthright in the natural had to be transformed to a birthright of the spirit. When Christ died for sinners he made a way for sinners to put on the skin of the firstborn in the eyes of the Father, but to carry the full testimony of authority we must also experience a transformation in our character, nature, way, power, and authority. Adam lost the birthright by trading it to Satan. Jesus took it back. That authority is not just an authority to get us into heaven when we die, but a right for the transformation of the Spirit to bring heaven into the earthly circumstances of our lives. Authority is the substance of life and it comes by the Spirit.

Food For Thought,

Ted J. Hanson